Report

As data center operators hone in on power options that increase reliability and provide power cost predictability over decades-long time scales, fuel cells have advantages that will allow them to compete.

Sprint is taking its fuel cell trials up multiple flights, installing them on rooftops. These cells will replace backup generators in dense cities, making them not only greener but also less of a logistical nightmare.

The world’s first data center powered primarily with fuel cells has finally been switched on in Utah by its owner, eBay. Its an unusual test bed which will give eBay insight into cleaner power and distributed energy.

Finding hidden product gems at the International Consumer Electronics Show is tricky but three crossed my radar at the first CES mini-event. One is for health tracking, one makes media sharing easier from a phone and one provides 2 weeks of battery life for devices.

Apple has decided to more than double the size of its fuel cell project at its data center in North Carolina, making it — once again — the largest out there that isn’t owned by a utility. For awhile eBay was holding that title.

EBay’s decision to install 6 megawatts of fuel cell capacity at its Utah data centers marks a shift in thinking toward on site power generation for the modern data center and using the grid as backup power.

AT&T is now Bloom Energy’s largest corporate customer and has doubled its previously announced fuel cell deal. The news is the latest win for Bloom Energy as it continues to brings in tech customers that want to power facilities and data centers.

On the occasion of the groundbreaking of Bloom Energy’s new east coast factory, the company gives us a rare video interview detailing its next-gen fuel cell tech, which has double the power in the same footprint, and is 20 percent more efficient than its older tech.

According to a filing with the North Carolina Utilities Commission, Apple’s fuel cell farm at its data center in North Carolina could start operating by June and will use twenty four 200 kW fuel cells.

Bloom Energy’s fuel cells could revolutionize data center power architecture, says Bloom Energy’s new data center guru, Peter Gross, who joined the company this week as the Vice President of Mission Critical Systems.

Silicon Valley’s fuel cell maker Bloom Energy has launched a new practice focused on data centers, the company announced on Wednesday. To lead the group, Bloom Energy has brought on Peter Gross, who co-founded data-center firm EYP Mission Critical Facilities, which was bought by HP.

The fact that two Silicon Valley-backed Bay Area companies appear to be the tech vendors behind Apple’s new pioneering clean power push at its massive data center in North Carolina shows that the greentech venture ecosystem can work — it just takes a long time.

Out of all of Google’s close to $1 billion in clean power projects, turning biomass into energy seems like the least relevant technology to Google’s core business. But Google has made a few small investments into biomass projects, including a hog waste to energy project.

FuelCell Energy is showing off what it says is the largest fuel cell park in the world: an 11.2 MW project with Korean power producer POSCO Power in Daegu City, South Korea. It was built on one acre of land.

Tropical storm Irene reminded us how essential reliable cell phone service has become in our lives. Kathy Fosberg of IdaTech discusses the emerging technology of fuel cells and how they power mobile service so we’re free to tweet about the hurricane.

ClearEdge Power might not have amassed the funding of Bloom Energy, but it’s getting up there. On Tuesday fuel cell maker ClearEdge Power announced that it has raised a series E round of funding of $73.5 million.

In the grand scheme of energy technologies, the key component that makes up a fuel cell is relatively short-lived. This Achilles heel is one of the main reasons that the business of selling fuel cells is often times not profitable.

Fuel cell maker ClearEdge Power plans to launch a fuel cell line targeted at data-center operators later this year. The move is part of a larger trend of fuel cell makers eying data-center operators as a new market for distributed cleaner power.

Electric bus maker Proterra announced Monday morning that it has raised $30 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins, GM Ventures, and Mitsui. Founded in 2004, Proterra makes drive components and energy storage systems for electric and hybrid buses, delivery vans and other commercial models.

While Bloom Energy scored a preliminary massive deal to sell fuel cells to Delaware utility Delmarva Power (subject to terms and regulatory approval), utilities in general are not all that interested in fuel cell technology, according to the latest report from consultants with Black & Veatch.

Fuel cell maker Bloom Energy has scored a potential 30 MW (300 Bloom Box) contract with Delaware utility Delmarva Power, and Bloom plans to build a factory in Delaware as part of the deal. However, the deal is contingent on several conditions and regulatory approval.

On Friday afternoon Bloom Energy touted its growth, announcing that it has quadrupled the size of its factory in Sunnyvale, Calif. to 210,000 square feet, has grown its workforce by over 70 percent in 2010, and grown by 525 percent over the past four years.

Last week, fuel cell startup Bloom Energy launched its power purchase agreement business that repositions it from being a provider of fuel cells to a provider of the power those fuel cells generate. But what is a Bloom electron worth to Bloom’s would-be customers?

Microsoft has seen its Xbox Live subscription gaming service grow pretty dramatically, with the service topping $1 billion in revenues. Perhaps more importantly, the majority of that revenue didn’t come through subscriptions, but from the sale of movies, TV shows and other content on the service.

Bloom Energy may capture the lion’s share of buzz among fuel cell startups, but ClearEdge Power has generated a fair amount of business for its $50,000 stationary fuel cell systems, including a new $40 million distribution deal for the Korean market.

ECOtality’s latest report to shareholders shows a net loss of more than $29.5 million for 2009, up from $8.1 million in 2008 (a change attributed largely to the expense of pursuing stimulus funds), and reveals a company backing away from hydrogen ambitions.

Daily Sprout: A victory for environmentalists in Rhode Island, economic concerns going into the upcoming climate conference in Poland, the buzz of innovation in the energy storage industry, and more news from around the web.